Breighting new footage – showing sparks igniting a fire on a Los Angeles hillside – is believed to be the brutal start to the Eaton fire that wreaked havoc earlier this month.
Edelson PC, a law firm currently suing power company Southern California Edison (SCE), shared the video on Sunday of what appears to be the moment the flames broke out just as the fire started around 6 p.m. on January 7.
A total of 17 people lost their lives in the inferno that also demolished 9,000 structures.
The Eaton Fire coincided with another fire that swept through the ritzy famous enclave of the Pacific Palisades and the Malibu coast. That fire destroyed 23,713 hectares of prime real estate and at least 11 people died.
The clip, taken less than a mile from the suspected ignition point, revealed sparking and electric arcs coming from a power line across the street from an Altadena gas station.
As several vehicles drove along the power line and heavy winds passed over, sparks soon trickled onto the dry hillside and the fire started within 10 minutes, according to attorneys at the law firm.
Jay Edelson, founder of Edelson PC, told DailyMail.com: 'This is the clearest and most damning evidence yet—real-time video from a gas station security camera that appears to show Southern California's power lines engulfing the Eaton Fire .
'It is only by sheer luck that this footage exists, because SCE's very first step was to plot the destruction or alteration of key evidence, including evidence that we believe in the process of why these arcs occurred.
Eerie new surveillance footage revealed terrifying sparks and electrical arcs coming from a powerline just across from an Altadena gas station just as the fire started around 6 p.m. on Jan. 7
A total of 17 people lost their lives in the Eaton fire that also demolished 9,000 structures (pictured: a home fire wall in Altadena on January 8)
“Rather than embrace transparency, SCE misled the public—disigfully suggesting that they had fluffed the relevant lines and even stooped so low as to blame a homeless camp for the devastation,” Edelson continued, adding that the energy company has since “assumed” hired the same law firm that represented Pacificorp in the 2020 Oregon Labor Day wildfires, where critical power lines were destroyed as the fires were still raging. '
A spokesperson for Socal Edison said the company received the video Saturday evening and cannot confirm what sparked the devastating wildfire until their investigation is complete, the LA Times reported.
“It is premature to comment or for anyone to draw conclusions until experts can review the video in full,” said Kathleen Dunleavy, a spokesperson for the Power Company.
Dunleavy said Socal Edison has since contacted investigators to ensure they also obtained the footage.
Despite theories that the company's equipment started the flames, Socal Edison officials have said they do not believe their electrical equipment is the culprit.
“No one knows what caused the Eaton fire,” Dunleavy insisted.
DailyMail.com contacted Southern California Edison for comment.
The power company has been bombarded with lawsuits since the wildfire broke out.
As several vehicles drove along the power line and heavy winds passed over, sparks soon trickled onto the dry hillside and the fire started within 10 minutes, according to attorneys at the law firm
Immense destruction is seen on Lake Ave just north of Altadena Ave after the Eaton fire burns through it
Residents of a senior care facility are evacuated as the Eaton Fire burns on January 7
Many devastated homeowners who lost everything in the fire have gone after Socal Edison, claiming the company's equipment is behind the Inferno.
The lawsuits were filed on behalf of homeowners, renters, business owners and others with properties destroyed by the Eaton Fire in the Pasadena and Altadena area.
The $25 billion company said it discovered a downed conductor at a tower near where a smaller fire broke out after an intense Santa Ana wind storm.
At the time, the National Weather Service recorded wind gusts of 35 mph (59 km/h) just before the fire started.
Socal Edison's chief executive Steven Powell told LA Times that the company would typically consider the de-energization — the removal of energy from machinery — of transmission lines when winds reach 60-80 mph.
Stronger windfalls were recorded at the site both before and after the fire, reading at 6 p.m. at 2:20 p.m. and 7 p.m. at 9:30 p.m., although it is unclear whether those numbers were reported at the tower, the outlet said.
Officials have repeatedly said they are investigating the cause of the fires but have not yet revealed any official theories.
The suits cited eyewitness accounts and images that appeared to show a fire at the base of an Edison-owned transmission tower in Southern California before powerful Santa Ana Wind Gusts quickly spread the flames.
Witnesses shared videos on social media of a fire at the base of a transmission tower that were reportedly taken shortly after the Eaton fire started.
Altadena resident Marcus Errico previously told CNN he saw the very first flames of the Eaton fire at the base of a transmission tower.
“I could see right across from us on the hill in Eaton Canyon, there's a series of transformer towers with power lines stretching into the mountains. And at the base of one there was just a small ring of flames around the entire base. he said.
“I can't say definitively that it was the power lines that caused it, but I can say definitively that the first fire in Pasadena and Altadena – Eaton Canyon is right on the edge of Altadena and Pasadena – that's where the fire started.
'It was Tuesday evening under that tower. It was – it started as a little little blaze underneath and within 10 minutes the whole hill was engulfed in fire. '
One lawsuit also referenced Brendan Thorn, who was interviewed by Local ABC News. Thorn said in the interview that he lives near Eaton Canyon and saw “knee high” fires around transmission towers shortly after the fire started.
Following the many lawsuits, the company has fiercely defended itself, as Powell previously told the LA Times that internal data showed there were no abnormalities with equipment in the 12 hours leading up to the fire.
A home on Altadena Drive is engulfed in flames on January 8
The Eaton Fire coincided with another inferno that swept through the Ritzy Celebrity Enclave of Pacific Palisades and the coast of Malibu (pictured after the fire)
A spokesperson had previously said in a statement that the electrical equipment was unlikely to have started the Eaton fire, but extraordinary time-stamped footage appears to show the fire first rising from a series of power lines.
Powell is aware of the images on social media, which are cited in several lawsuits.
He said he understands why people would see the disastrous vision and assume Edison's equipment is to blame.
“My heart dropped because you see that, and immediately, you know, someone's mind would go if they saw that was the beginning stages of the fire,” he said.
'You can't see anything else, your mind will go [to thinking it was caused by Edison electrical equipment] absolute.'
Los Angeles officials have asked residents to remain patient as they try to work through the smoldering wreckage of fire-ravaged communities, but frustration is growing as residents demand to return home and investigate the damage for themselves.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said he “understands the frustration people are feeling.”
He added: 'They have basically been kept away from their home, where everything they have is, if it still stands, and they are not allowed to go back and access that. I would ask for their patience because it is a situation where it is not just a decision to be made, like the flip of a switch. A lot of things are happening now. '
Authorities have also warned that burned communities are now full of asbestos-filled ash and dangerous debris beneath the carnage.
Officials warned that the ash could contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.
Anish Mahajan of the LA County Public Health Department said Tuesday, “Ash isn't just dirt.”
'It is dangerous particulate matter that can irritate or harm your respiratory system and other parts of your body where it lands.'
